


Pull Me Back

by LinaBenliven



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Racism, Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Declarations Of Love, Emperor Lotor, Established Keith/Lotor, Established Relationship, First Aid, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Halfbreed Racism, Honorary Blade of Marmora Lotor (Voltron), Keith is ready to fight, Keitor Exchange 2018, Lotor bandages up Keith, Lotor refuses to put up with racism, M/M, Reckless Keith (Voltron), Set after season 5, blade of marmora, diplomatic mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-27 11:58:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14424942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaBenliven/pseuds/LinaBenliven
Summary: Keith and Lotor have travelled together on many diplomatic missions since Lotor became Emperor.None of them have ever gone as badly as the one to Tatreylia has though.





	Pull Me Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sebayard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebayard/gifts).



> This is my gift for the Keitor Exchange for @sebayard! I hope you like it hun

Keith hadn’t known what he had been getting himself into when he agreed to take this mission from Kolivan. Well, okay that was a bit of a lie. He had known that he was meant to protecting the Emperor during a diplomatic meeting to the distant planet of Tatreylia, and that due to the nature of its citizens he was to make sure there were no attempts on Lotor’s life. Which was fine, that he could do. Or, he could have done if Kolivan had warned them that Tatreylia weren’t too friendly with Galrans, and that upon seeing Lotor in the Tatreylian throne room; they would begin to attack. If he had known that he would have been better prepared.

His eyes narrowed as one of the guards approached him with his sword drawn and he threw Lotor behind him, activating his Marmora blade without hesitation. The next thing Keith registers is the searing pain as a blade pierced through his armour, but he doesn’t let the pain knock him off his feet. These blades hurt more than the blades that the Marmora members used in training but he had made a promise to Kolivan that Lotor would not get hurt during this mission.

So, the former Red Paladin stood his ground despite the pain and swung his blade fast enough to wound his attacker. His Marmora blade pierces the Tatreylian’s flesh with ease, luminescent blue blood trailing down their armour and his blade.

“Call off your bodyguard!” The raven-haired male turns round and stares with dark violet eyes at the speaker. He recognised him from the diplomatic file that he had been given. It was the ruler of the planet, dressed in gaudy attire that denoted that they were the ruler of this wasteland of a planet.

“Call him off? Your guards attacked him first.” Keith can hear the unpleasantness in Lotor’s voice. The tone that he reserved for the times that people were being unreasonable. And, sure enough when he looks back he can see that familiar scowl on the Emperor’s face. “I demand to know why your delegation demands to fight us when you invited us here to talk to you and your people about the Voltron coalition.” Lotor has drawn himself up to his full height now and Keith sees several of the guards raise their weapons at the action.

“Settle down guards. Let the _halfling_ speak to us.” The way the leader addresses Lotor is not missed by Keith. He watches the Tatreylian guards sheath their swords once more, and grips his own blade tighter. He didn’t feel comfortable putting away his weapon. Especially not when he was injured and bleeding himself. A quick squeeze on his shoulder from Lotor means Keith deactivates his blade, but keeps it firmly in his hand. It was a signal they had developed over the countless missions they had gone on now. It was something the former Paladin was extremely thankful for.

“I’m sorry that my half-Galran heritage is an issue with you.” Keith notices how the Emperor’s jaw clenches as he talks. He knew from the many late night talks him and Lotor had had that he was used to apologising for his heritage, something that Keith hated. He shouldn’t need to apologise for it, it wasn’t his fault after all.

“That is not the issue.” The Tatreylian leader seems to laugh at Lotor’s apology, and both half-Galrans tense. That was not the usual reaction they had gotten. They share a quick glance and the raven-haired male moves to stand in front of the Emperor, thankful that his injury to his side had stopped bleeding.

“Then do tell; what is?” It’s not clear to the leader of Tatreylia just how angry that has made the Emperor, but to Keith it is as obvious as the stars in the sky. Lotor’s fist was clenched by his side, and the hand on Keith’s shoulder kept clenching every now and again. He desperately wanted to turn to the taller man and reassure him that the Tatreylian’s were just assholes but he knew Lotor would never forgive him for breaking protocol, Kolivan certainly wouldn’t.

“Your Altean heritage.” Both half-Galrans watch as the Tatreylian leader stands up and walks towards the guard that Keith had injured. Their webbed hands pressing against the dried blue blood as they bandaged the guard’s arm, occasionally shooting a hateful glance back at the former Paladin. Not that Keith cared, if the guard didn’t want to be injured he shouldn’t have attacked him.

“My Altean heritage?” That shocks Lotor. Normally it was the Galran part of him that closed off potential allies, leading him to having to explain his plan for the Empire at least four times before they were convinced he was decent enough for them to join the coalition. In fact, it was such a regular occurrence that he was fairly certain that the smaller male knew his Galran Empire reform speech word for word now.

“Yes, the Alteans are too peaceful. You cannot expect them to lead an effective resistance.” They speak so casually, as though what they had just said wasn’t inherently racist.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Lotor’s voice is harsh as he squeezes his hand tighter on Keith’s shoulder, as though he was trying to stop him from attacking the Tatreylian leader. How he knew that Keith wanted to do that was something that the raven-haired male didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to question him. No, that would come later on the ride back to the Marmora base. “If that is the case, I don’t think we can talk to you about the coalition.”

“Why ever not?” Keith can hear the disgust in their voice, and he’s even more thankful for Lotor’s grip on his shoulder tightening. At this point though, he’s not sure who’s benefit it was for. Yes, it was stopping Keith from attacking them, but it was also stopping Lotor from attacking them.

“You’re disgusted by someone who is half Altean, and I can take the fact that you hate me,” The raven-haired male recognises the tone that the taller male is using. It was his detached tone that he usually used when he didn’t want to discuss the topic at hand, but he knew that he had too. “But the Blue Paladin is Princess Allura of Altea, and I will not listen to you insult her when she has done nothing but fight to free other planets of my father’s rule.” Keith isn’t surprised to hear the Emperor speak so highly of Allura. The two had gotten very close over the many discussions they had had regarding Lotor’s rule and the coalition.

What he was surprised by was the way that he hadn’t seemed to think about the outcome of upsetting the Tatreylian leader. Lotor hadn’t done his usual calculations of whether the needs of the coalition outweighed the racist nature of this planet. He had just stepped up and immediately defended Allura instead. Something that while Keith is proud of him for doing so, he knows just how much it could backfire on them.

“So, if you don’t mind, Keith and I are going to take our leave now. If any of your guards follow us, I will give Keith the order to kill them.” Lotor’s voice echoes in the Tatreylian throne room and for the first time the raven-haired male hears the slight resemblance to Zarkon’s commanding voice. He doesn’t say anything about it however, he just turns on his heel with Lotor and follows him back to the pod before the Tatreylians can stop them.

Once back in the pod though Keith slumps into the pilot chair and slowly peels his suit away from his side. The bleeding had stopped but the wound didn’t look like it was going to heal naturally like his other scars. Sighing, he let his head fall back against the headrest, only to hear Lotor rummaging through the supply cabinets.

“What are you doing?” The smaller male says as he turns the chair to look at him, blade now back in it’s sheath at his side. He took a moment to take in the sight of the Emperor rummaging through cabinets, his jaw set in place and smiled to himself. Lotor really was attractive.

“Looking for bandages.” Lotor’s eyes never look away from the cabinet as he talks, but that’s not what Keith sighs at. No, Keith sighed at the words themselves. The Emperor always insisted on bandaging the former Paladin up whenever he got injured. It didn’t matter what the injury was, if Keith got hurt on their missions, Lotor wanted to bandage him up. It was flattering but, not always necessary.

“You don’t have to Lotor.” He runs his hand through his hair as he talks and watches as Lotor tugs the first aid kit free of the cabinet. He knows that it’s useless pretending that he didn’t want this. The half-Galran had such a soft touch when it came to tending to his wounds and it meant a lot having someone to bandage him up considering certain injuries he couldn’t always deal with.  But it was more than just the practicality that made Keith helpless to refuse his help. It was the clear love in the Emperor’s eyes as he tended to each injury. It had been a long time since the smaller male had had something so right with someone and he was glad to have it once more.

“You got injured defending me, at least let me patch you up before you fly us back.” Lotor’s voice is soft as he rips open Keith’s suit that little bit more to get a better look at the wound site. He ran a finger over the dried blood and sighed a little. “It’s deeper than normal as well.” He said as he reached for one of the green wipes to clean it, only to blink when the smaller male touches his hand to stop him from cleaning it.

“Lotor.” Lotor audibly sighs at the way Keith says his name, too exhausted from dealing with the Tatreylian leader to want to argue with his mate about bandaging him up again.

“Keith, it’s an order.” He says softly as he bats the other male’s hands away so that he can run the wipe over his wound. He rarely abused his power as the Emperor, but in situations like this he knew it worked faster than trying to convince Keith to just let him do this.

“And if I disobey?” Keith leans down as he talks and Lotor lets out a soft chuckle as he looks up at the beautiful raven-haired male above him. Shaking his head slightly, he leans up to plant a gentle kiss on his lips and smiles feeling Keith relax into it for a change. Not that it was Keith’s fault for not relaxing into a kiss sooner, most of their kisses had taken place on the battlefield or on high risk missions.

“I’ll think of a punishment for your cheekiness later.” He whispers in his ear before pulling away and starting to stitch up the male’s side when he notices that Keith is no longer fighting against him.

“I look forward to it your highness.” Keith says with a grin before idly threading his fingers through Lotor’s hair to distract himself from the pain in his side as he let his boyfriend stitch him up for what wouldn’t be the last time.


End file.
